Household appliance



June 7, 1932. F. J. R. KARLsTRM ET AL HOUS EHOLD AP PLIANC E Filed May 14, 1950 Patented June 7, 1932 UNITED STATES FBEDRIK JOHAN ROBERT KARLSTRM AND J'OAN GUNNAR NORD, OF STO SWEDEN, ASSIGNORS, BY IMIESNEI ASSIGNMENTS, T ELECTROLUX CORPO CORPORATION OF DELAWARE vPATENT oI-Flcn TION. A

HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE Application led lay 14, 1930, Serial'lii'o. 452,150, and in Sweden Hay 16, 1929.

Our invention relates to household appliances and particularly to. appliances for use in connection with small portable vacuum cleaners. More especially our invention has LB reference to a vibrator for massage apparatus', actuated by the iiow of air produced by a vacuum cleaner and preferably by the sucproviding a regulatable by-pass connection.

for atmospheric air around the turbine, that is, direct to the suction pipe instead of through the turbine` We prefer theuse of suction for operating a vibrator in connection with a. vacuum cleaner unit partly because this avoids having particles of dirt blown into the vibrator turbine, which may have become lodged on the inside of the tube connecting the'vacuum cleaner unit with the vibrator, and partly because air blast against the part of the body to be treated is prevented. We use a turbine with a plurality of rotors in order to obtain considerable power ffor causing the vibration in a minimum of space occupied by the vibrator motor.

Our novel impeller for producing vibration may be adapted to other uses.

Further objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent from thefollowing description considered in connectionv with the 4U accompanying drawing which forms a part of the specification and in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of va preferred embodiment of our invention showing a vacuum cleaner in combination with a vibrator;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, partially in cross-section of the vibrator shown in Fig. 1 and taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3;

Fig'. 3 is a View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and shows a turbine runner forming 50 part of thervibrator;

'by a. motor 6 produces a current of a'ir through the cleaner unit from the inlet in cap 9 tothe outlet opening in cap 5. Secured in the inlet of cleaner 10is a coupling member 11, preferably made of electric insulating material such as ebonite or phenol condensation product. Attached to coupling 11 is one end of a flexible hose 12 to the other end of which is attached a vibrator designated generally by reference character 13 and essentially com-- OLM,

prising a vvibrator motor and a massage at.

tachment or tool. v

The vibrator motor comprises a tubular housing 26 having a cap 15 on one end thereof in which are formed holes'14 for the passage therethrough'ot` air. Cap 15 is secured to the housing -by means of screws 16.

Mounted within `housing 26 is a small reaction turbine comprising stationary guides 23, 24 and 25 having oblique vanes arranged alternately with turbinerunners 20, 21 and 22l having oppositely directed oblique vanes. The runners are rigidly secured to a single shaft 27 which is rotatably mounted in ballbearings 28 and 29 supported by the structure comprising guide vanes 23 and 24, respectively. y

Runners 20, 21 and 22 are constructed as shown in Figure 3, with\a concentration of weight 36 forming an eccentric mass on one side thereof near their periphery so that the center of gravity of the runners is displaced from the axis of rotation and the runners are unbalanced and will wobble on rotation. When the runners are mounted on shaft 27 the eccentric weights 36 in the dierent runners are in alignment. o

The end of housing'26 opposite from cover 15 is connected to a tubular member 19 which in turn is detachably connected to hose 12.

Openings 17 are formed near this end of the` I 10 regulatable by-pass for admitting air directly to the suction conduit 19 without passing through the turbine.

Sockets 37 and 38 are attached to housing 26 and cover 15, respectively, and are adapted 5 to receive a suitable-massage device 40, by

means of which the vibrations are communicated to the subject to be treated.

The modification illustrated in Fig. 5 is similar to that shown in Fig. 2 except that 2g the turbine has two stages instead of three. In this case the shaft 34, carrying runners. 30 and 31, is mounted in a single bearing 35 carried in the structure comprising guide 32. The runners are alternately disposed with z5 reference to the guides 32 and 33.

The operation of the device is a follows: When the vacuum cleaner is started, air is drawn thereinto from the hose 12. This air is supplied through the openings 14 in cover 15 or through openings 17, 17a in housing 26. The air drawn through openings 14 is directedby the guide vanes of guide 25 against runner 22 causing it to rotate. The air discharged from runner 22 is redirected by the vanes of guide 24 against runner 21 from which it is discharged to be directed by the vanes of guide 23 against runner 20. The result of the flow of air through the turbine is to cause the rotor thereof, comprising the three runners mounted on shaft 27 to rotate at a high rate of speed. The eccentric weights 36 attached to the runners cause the rotor as a whole to be unbalanced and hence vibrations are set up. These vibrations are transmitted to the housing and thence to the massage device 40A The amount of air drawn in through openings 14 may be varied by varying the size of the by-pass openings by rotating member 5o 18 to more or less close the by-pass-openings. This varies the speed of the turbine and hence the period and intensity of vibrations set up. It will thus be seen that we have provided a vibrating device which may be operated by power supplied by an ordinary vacuum cleaner and which may be transported from place to place about the house. As the device is not operated by air blown from the cleaner there is no chance that dirt contained in the hose, which ordinarily is used for cleaning purposes, will be blown out into the room. Likewise it is not necessary to remove the dust bag from the cleaner when the latter is used tor operate the vibrator. Another advantage of our invention resides in the fact -current cannot be transmitted to the vibrator due to the insulating coupling 11.

While we have shown and described preferred embodiments of our invention, itis to be understood that they are merely for the purpose of illustration and the scope of our invention is to be gaged by the appended claims viewed in the light of prior art.

What we claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, in combination, a vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet, a turbine, a conduit connecting said turbine with said inlet, said turbine having an unbalanced runner for producing vibrations and a massage device secured to said turbine.

2. In a device of the character described, in combination, a vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet, a turbine, a conduit connecting said turbine with said inlet, said turbine having an unbalanced runner for producing vibrations, a massage device secured to said turbine and a regulatable by-pass for varying the quantity of air drawn through the turbine. v

3. In a device of the character described, in combination, a vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet, a turbine, a conduit'connecting said turbine with said inlet. said turbine having an unbalanced runner for producing vibrations, a massage device secured to said turbine and means comprising an adjustable opening in said conduit to vary the quantity of air drawn through the turbine.

4. In a device of the character described, in combination, a vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet, a turbine, and a conduit connecting said turbine with said inlet, said turbine comprising a plurality of stationary guides, each guide having a plurality of oblique guide vanes, a shaft, a plurality of turbine runners mounted on said shaft, each turbine runner having a plurality of oblique vanes, and a bearing for said shaft carried by said stationary guides.

5. In a device of the character described, in combination, a vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet, a` turbine, and a conduit `connecting, said turbine with said inlet, said tur-- bine comprising a stationary guide having a plurality of oblique vanes, a shaft, a turbine runner mounted on said shaft and having oblique vanes and an eccentric weight, and a bearing for said shaft carried by said stationary guide.

6. A device of the character described comprising, in combination, a vacuum cleaner unit, means to produce tlow of air through said unit, said unit having an air inlet and an air outlet. a turbine comprising unbalbearings for said shaft being carried by saida stationary guides.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aix our signatures.

FREDRIK JOHAN ROBERT KARLSTROM. JOHAN GUNNAK NORD. 

